Sniffing Roses
by Frosted Landscapes
Summary: "Do you love me?" "Yes" "Why?" "Because you're perfect" In which Katara and Zuko fall in love.


**A/N: I do not own A:tLA**

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After the death of her father Katara understands that it is time to move on, that it is time to return to the Fire Nation, that it is time that she found something new to do, something that would manage to bring her thoughts away from the death of the only man who really understood her.

So when Zuko meets her at the docks, his bodyguards in tow, she doesn't hesitate in following him. He leads her to the room she had stayed in years ago and leaves her there, allowing her to regain composure and understand the thoughts that would soon allow her to become herself again.

She waits, waits for the man whom she calls her boyfriend, the man who fathered her two children. Aang. So is it any wonder that when she finally discovers him, in a sleazy brothel, arms around two women whom she doesn't know nor care to know, she throws a fit and drags him out of the house with her fingers pressed tightly around his earlobe?

Zuko is less than thrilled at the young airbender's behavior even though he explains that he was just trying to continue the line of airbenders just in case his two children don't turn out to be so. He never can understand why the older man dismisses him from the palace.

o0o0o0o

She sits across from him at the long dinner table. This is something that she hates, the silence; the damn silence. He turns away, quickly, she knows he isn't used to this and she has never expects him to be. Love is something far off for the two of them.

She had let Aang go; he has lost Mai to cancer. She doesn't expect him to fall in love again, even though there are times that his gaze lingers on her a little too long or his eyes meet hers and soften just a little.

She doesn't want to admit it, but she thinks he loves her more than he should, in a way that is supposed to be impossible. They are best friends, people who the world saw as mere friends.

Times like these are dangerous and she isn't sure she wants it to be any different. She excuses herself from the table and leaves him. She doesn't know that when she moves away from the dining room, his eyes follow her until she disappears.

o0o0o0o

She lies on her bed and thinks about the night's thoughts they were complicated to say the least. It's ironic really, to think about thoughts. She smiles slightly, just slightly at the thought. This is something new to her, is she ready to fall in love again? Her instincts tell her she is not. She turns and lies on her side. Zuko is a good man and someone she has come to love in more ways than one.

She loves him as a leader, as a friend, as a confidant but never as a lover. Katara closes her eyes, she hasn't felt this confused in so long it's hard for her to understand her thoughts. They are incoherent to say the least and the twenty-eight-year-old waterbender hates to think it but she is at a lost. What if Zuko does fancy her? She isn't sure she can reciprocate those feelings.

o0o0o0o

They meet the next day for a sparring session. Fire and water meet each other in a dance of violence. They don't mind this of course. One of the few things they have in common is the fact that they both love bending. She shoots a water whip his way and he dodges it easily. Boy has she missed this.

She has always hated all the times she spent in her rooms crying for her father and Aang who broke her heart, so much time had been spent that she had forgotten how it actually felt like to bend water. She hates that she did.

Katara freezes his leg and he falls to the ground. This is not what he has expected. He'd never been frozen like this since he fought her in the North Pole. He misses the feeling. But more so, he misses the Katara who would fight back. Even more so, he just plains misses Katara.

o0o0o0o

They sit under the old oak tree, feeding turtleducks as they lean on the ancient thing. This is not the first time they have been together in silence like that. Mostly the silence kills them both inside but today is different. They enjoy this silence, it is something they would love to steep in even though their bums hurt and they look a little too tired.

Katara runs out of bread and asks him for some, Zuko is too happy to oblige. He passes her the food and jumps a little when her fingertips brush against his. He looks at her and stares a little too long such that she stares back and smiles. He nearly melts into a puddle. He loves her he realizes this as he looks into the face of his companion. He blushes just that little bit.

He doesn't think she notices.

Even though she does.

o0o0o0o

They track to the hills are different today, they are talking a bit more. And Zuko wonders why for a brief moment, was it the fact that their breakfast omelet consisted of tomatoes instead of cheese? He highly doubts so. He looks at her, his eyes gently as he watches her pick the roses from the ground and sniff them.

His gaze is soft and gentle but he doesn't stop and think about this. His mind is too preoccupied with the waterbender. She turns to face him and smiles. This time he truly melts into a puddle. Not literally of course, that would be hilarious. Instead his golden eyes become more molten than they already are.

o0o0o0o

"_Do you love me?"_

"_Yes"_

"_Why?"_

"_Because you're perfect"_

He isn't surprised at her question. He had expected her to respond as such from the beginning of time and doesn't regret his answer even though he understands that what he has just said is almost too ridiculous to take seriously. He doesn't back away, he doesn't have to, she is his best friend and she can see right through him without even taking a second glance. He means what he says and to make sure she makes no mistake about it, he punctuates his answer with a soft kiss to her lips. He is more than pleased that she doesn't back away even though he thought she would.

His answer doesn't surprise hre one bit and she knows that he knows this because they know each other all too well. She looks at him, her eyes wide and her lips just twitching into the slightest of smiles. This is what she wants; she discovers this as she looks him in the eyes. She loves him too; suddenly she is certain of it. And now she isn't afraid to admit it.

o0o0o0o

They marry on the thirteenth of July with her daughters being the flower girls who were customary in Fire Nation culture. She looks at them, happy and pleased that they are about to have a father better than she could ask for herself. This is truly a dream come true.

o0o0o0o

**A/N: Please do review! I'm looking to get at least 10 for this piece! It would be awesome if you reviewed! Love reading from you guys! Thanks in advance!**


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